Al Sharpton, "Civil Rights Leader?" - December 12, 2003

Al Sharpton, "Civil Rights Leader?"
"The settlement is a welcome development for Mr. Sharpton, whose personal finances as a civil rights leader have often been stretched and shrouded in mystery."
- Thomas Lueck on a lawsuit victory by race-baiter Al Sharpton, December 9.
"Even his opponents concede, however, that Mr. Sharpton has the ability to marshal grass-roots efforts in the city's black and Hispanic neighborhoods, where he has made a name for himself as a civil rights advocate and street brawler."
- Raymond Hernandez, December 12.

Halliburton's Non-Profiteering Profiteers
" Yes, Halliburton is profiteering in Iraq-will apologists finally concede the point, now that a Pentagon audit finds overcharging?"
- Columnist Paul Krugman, December 12.Reality Check: "The officials said Halliburton did not appear to have profited from overcharging for fuel, but had instead paid a subcontractor too much for the gasoline in the first place."
- front-page story by Douglas Jehl, December 12.

"Conservative Catholic Complicity with Nazism"
"Instead of seriously addressing the issue of the conservative Catholic complicity with Nazism (the Roman Catholic Church viewed Communism as a much greater threat than Hitler), the screenplay is content to skirt any serious controversy by reducing the drama to a prolonged, largely suspense-free manhunt, in which [the main character] scurries like a weary hunted animal from one monastery to the next as the net closes around him."
- Movie review of "The Statement" by Stephen Holden, December 12.

"Centering" Liberals Gore and Lieberman
"Mr. Gore's decision put him in the odd position of supporting an insurgent candidate who has built his campaign attacking the centrist Democratic positions that the former Vice President has espoused for two decades."
- Adam Nagourney and Jodi Wilgoren on Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean, December 9.
"In moving to endorse Howard Dean, Al Gore embraced an insurgent candidate who has spent months railing against the brand of centrist-at-home, hawkish-abroad Democratic politics that Mr. Gore worked 20 years to help build."
- Todd Purdum, December 9.

Mr. Lieberman, a centrist from Connecticut who made history as the first Jewish vice presidential nominee of a major party, delayed announcing that he was entering the 2004 presidential race until last January, when he was certain Mr. Gore was not running again."
- Diane Cardwell, December 9.

"A Centrist, Lieberman Fights For Votes in an Extremist Era."
- headline to a December 8 story by Janny Scott.Reality Check: A 2000 Media Research Center analysis found Al Gore's American Conservative Union rating for his years in the House and Senate averaged 14.6 (out of 100). That same year MRC noted Lieberman's lifetime ACU rating was 19.

Grinchy Gingrich Out to "Destroy Medicare."
"But hasn't he said that he wants to destroy Medicare?"
- Deborah Solomon referring to Newt Gingrich during an interview with AARP chief executive William Novelli, in the December 7
New York Times Magazine.

But What Do You Really Think About Him?
"After more than five months of testing his fellow European leaders' tempers and stoking their outrage, Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister, heads to Brussels late this week for a summit at which lingering disagreements over a first European constitution are supposed to be resolved. It is the climactic moment of his stormy turn in the presidency of the European Union, which rotates every six months. It also puts a delicate task in the hands of a man better known for his brashness."
- Frank Bruni on Italy's pro-Bush, pro-war prime minister, December 7.

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